This content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost. Let us know if you find any major problems.
Text in this format is not official and should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments. Please see the PDF for the official version of the document.
Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel
Record of Meeting
Date: 5th June 2017
Present | Deputy T. A. Vallois, Vice-Chairman Deputy S. Y. Mezec Deputy J. M. Maçon |
Apologies | Deputy L. M. C. Doublet , Chairman |
Absent |
|
In attendance | Mr E. Lincoln, Chairman, Jersey Chamber of Commerce Ms G. Martindale-Parsons, Chief Executive Officer, Jersey Chamber of Commerce. Mr M. Robbins, Scrutiny Officer Mr A. Harris , Scrutiny Officer |
Ref Back | Agenda matter | Action |
Item 1 14/10/17 | 1. Vice-Chairman The Panel agreed that the Vice-Chairmanship would revert to Deputy J. M. Maçon with immediate effect. | MR/AH |
Item 1 11.05.17 | 2. Records of Meetings Minutes of the meetings held on 10th and 27th April and 11th and 15th May 2017 were approved and signed. | MR/AH |
| 3. Jersey Chamber of Commerce The Chairman of the Jersey Chamber of Commerce, Mr E. Lincoln, and his Chief Executive were welcomed to the meeting and discussed areas of common interest between the Chamber and the Panel. The Panel requested that a letter of thanks be sent to the Chamber of Commerce and that questions be drafted to be asked of the Minister for Education at the next quarterly public hearing. | MR/AH MR/AH |
Item 2 11.05.17 | 4. Conflict of Interest. There were no conflicts of interest declared. | MR/AH |
Item 1 31.05.17 | 5. Draft Criminal Procedure (Bail) Law 201- The Panel noted the briefing received from the Officers of the Community and Constitutional Affairs Department in relation to the Draft Criminal Procedure (Bail) Law 201-. Whilst there did not appear to be any issues that the Panel considered needed further work, the Panel expressed its disappointment that the draft law had not been provided in advance. It was agreed that covering documents for briefings would be better circulated to the Panel prior to future briefings. Once the Law was lodged, the Panel agreed that Deputy S. Y. Mezec was to lead any work identified. | MR/AH SM/MR /AH |
Item 5 11.05.17 | 6. Brexit The Panel noted a paper on Brexit provided by the officers. It agreed to defer any review until there was some certainty emerging from the process. That course of action would allow the Panel to make recommendations based on fact rather than speculation. | MR/AH |
| 7. GCSE Grades The Panel noted changes to the GCSE grading system being introduced in Jersey. It recognised that although this was a UK initiative, Jersey had no choice but to follow the changes due to the use of UK exam boards. | MR/AH |
| 8. P41/2017 Amendment to Funding for Fee Paying Schools. The Panel noted that the proposition P41/2017 enacted the agreement of the States during the MTFP Addition debate to reduce the funding for fee paying schools in Jersey. The Panel Members voiced varying opinions on the proposition but agreed that the Panel would present comments outlining numerous objections as stated by the Panel during the MTFP Addition debate. The Panel requested the Officer to begin drafting the comments for Panel approval. | MR/AH |
| 9. Digital Skills The Panel deferred discussion of Digital Skills until the next scheduled meeting. | MR/AH |
Item 6 11.05.17 | 10. Misuse of Drugs (Jersey) Law 1978. The Panel noted that this matter was still to be placed before the Chairmen's Committee as previously agreed. It maintained that it had significant interest in the area being looked at and deferred the item to the next agenda. | MR/AH |
516/1/1(4) & 516/1/1(6) Item 4 11.05.17 | 11. Quarterly Public Hearings The Panel reviewed the dates of forthcoming quarterly public hearings with Ministers for Education and Home Affairs and made some changes. The new suggested dates were provided and departments were to be notified about the meetings involved. | MR/AH |
Item 7 11.05.17 | 12. Visit to Police Headquarters The Panel considered further dates on which a visit to the new Police Headquarters was able to take place and tasked the Officer to arrange with the department accordingly. | MR/AH |
516/49 | 13. PSHE The Panel agreed that a review into how Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) was provided in Jersey schools should be undertaken. The Panel requested that a scoping document was drafted, although it was recognised that the review had to be placed on hold until the Panel had the availability of resources to undertake the work. The Panel agreed that Deputy J. M. Maçon was to lead the work. | MR/AH |
| 14. P.26/2017 Immigration (amendment)(Jersey) Order 2017: Extension to Jersey by Order in Council. The Panel noted that the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel intended to undertake a review into the draft Immigration (amendment)(Jersey) | MR/AH |
| Order 2017: Extension to Jersey by Order in Council. The proposition had been lodged by the Chief Minister, however the proposed changes to law would extend the remit of the Minister for Home Affairs. The Panel considered the remit of the subject and decided that this fell into the remit of Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel and was not, therefore, a matter for the Panel to examine. |
|
516/45 Item 8 11.05.17 | 15. Nursery Education Fund The Panel considered the progress that had been made regarding Nursery Education Funding, and agreed that the Minister was not doing what he was mandated to do as a result of the States approval of the MTFP Addition. The Panel was to consider whether it had sufficient evidence from its review to draft a proposition. Deputy T. A. Vallois was to liaise with the officers to undertake the work. | TV/MR/ AH |
| 16. States of Jersey Police Force (Jersey) Law 2012 Amendment No2 The Panel decided that whilst the recommendations of the Panel contained within its report S.R.9/2015 Prison Board of Visitors had been fulfilled within the draft States of Jersey Police Force (Jersey) Law 2012 Amendment No2, the work that may now be needed was not connected to the Prison Board of Visitors. Therefore the work should carry the title of the draft legislation. The Panel requested the Officer to confirm the Lodging and debate dates of the proposition. The Panel agreed that Deputy T. A. Vallois and Deputy S.Y. Mezec were to liaise with the Officer to establish any follow up work as a result of the proposition. The Officer confirmed that this would be organised in due course. | TV/SM/ MR/AH |
516/44 Item 10 11.05.17 | 17. School Starting Age The Panel noted that the Ministerial response to the recommendations in the School Starting Age report, SR5/2017, was due on13th June 2017. | MR/AH |
516/46 Item 11 11.05.17 | 18. Tertiary Education: Student Finance The Panel noted that only one Ministerial response had been published in relation to the Student Finance recommendations. That was from the Minister for Treasury and Resources and had been published on 2nd June 2017. No responses had been published by the Chief Minister or the Minister for Education. The Panel noted that the date for publication of the Ministers' responses had been 2nd May 2017. The Panel agreed to bring this delay to the attention of the Chairmen's Committee, as it considered the failure of the Ministers to maintain the agreed timeline was unacceptable. | MR/AH MR/AH |
516/48 | 19. Tertiary Education: Education Department Funding The Panel considered and approved scoping documents and terms of reference for this review and agreed that the Panel would proceed with the review. The Panel agreed that Deputy J. M. Maçon was to lead the review and he was to liaise with the officers as necessary. | MR/AH |
516/47 | 20. Tertiary Education: Vocational Education |
|
| The Panel considered a draft scoping document that combined three elements of the overall work on tertiary education and decided that it was more appropriate to undertake the pieces of work separately. A scoping documents was to be drafted in relation to vocational education with other aspects of Tertiary Education to follow later. The Panel agreed that Deputy T. A. Vallois was to lead the review and liaise with the officers as necessary. | TV/MR/ AH |
| 21. Food and Nutrition Strategy The Panel noted that the Director of Public Health Policy had invited Scrutiny Members to a private presentation of Food and Nutrition Strategy. It agreed that Deputy J. M. Maçon would attend and report back to the Panel. | JM |
| 22. Future Meetings The Panel noted that the next meeting was scheduled for Monday 3rd July 2017. It further noted that Monday morning meetings had become difficult for the Chairman and agreed to move all future scheduled meetings to Monday afternoon at 13:30. |
|